iPhone 6: Why Developers Hold the Key

With the iPhone 6 officially available from today, the question on many lips this weekend will undoubtedly be: to buy or not to buy?

I must admit I wasn’t always a fan of Apple products. For years I survived without an iPod and my allegiance to a mobile phone brand changed as often as the year passed. That was the case until I put my faith into Microsoft… and came out of that feeling used and underwhelmed.

It wasn’t the actual phone that resulted in me converging to Apple, at the time the hardware was good. I bought the HTC HD7 on launch and felt I’d made the right choice. Larger than my previous mobiles, I was impressed with the Windows technology and the tile structure is something we see resonating on MS devices today. There was interactivity with my Xbox 360 Gaming account, which as any gamers out there will know, was a neat little bit of functionality.

I did appreciate that it was early days, and app developers needed time to get used to working on another platform aside from iOS, but even so there was one event that sealed the fate of my relationship with Windows Phones. I went out for a run…

For a few months I’d been happily using a well known running app my Windows phone, but then one day I borrowed my wife's iPhone and the rest is history.

It wasn’t the manufacturers that pushed me towards Apple products as I ran that day, it was more the consideration from the development community. The differences between the same app across the two devices was shocking. I felt cheated that I’d missed out all these additional features just because I'd chosen not to go with Apple.

From that point on I only considered Apple and yet many £££’s and generations of iPhone and iPads later I may have reached a point where I am tempted to dip my toe back into the ocean.

Why? Well, the unveiling of the new iPhone 6 has left me in a state of flux. There hasn’t been the same hype this time round. Perhaps it’s a result of the massive let down, stop gap that was the 5C and 5S models, or the technical troubles around the unveil. When asked about my thoughts on the 6 recently, my response has been: ‘meh’. The £700 ish price tag for the top end model just can’t be justified, and does releasing two quite different models just create frustration amongst the die hard fans? Only time will tell.

And that's why - for now - I’m holding back and intend to wait and see how the market reacts. I’d like to think that the manufacturers are all on an even keel when it comes to 3rd party support when it comes to apps so that's why I might just be eyeing up a new purchase, away from Apple, in the next few months.